


Dewey Decimal System

by nepenthe_writer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Library, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27526729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nepenthe_writer/pseuds/nepenthe_writer
Summary: Tony is looking for some books to help him with his thesis. Steve is a librarian that is more than willing to help out. He's just not sure how a student of Tony's caliber can't figure out the Dewey Decimal system.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 70





	Dewey Decimal System

Steve was working at the circulation desk of the library checking in books that had been left in the drop box overnight after the library had closed yesterday. It was a good job and Steve was very happy with it. He got to help people find new knowledge or a new world to explore. The library served a local college campus along with local patrons from the city. As such the library was quite large, massive square footage with three stories plus a basement full of books, and took dedication to keep nice and organized. Dedication that Steve was more than happy to give.

Steve had just finished getting a stack of books checked in and organized on a cart to back out onto the shelves when a man approached the desk. The man was almost a head shorter than Steve himself with a mop of messy brown hair that Steve just wanted to run his fingers through to put into some kind of order. That was the only reason really. It had nothing at all to do with wanting to find out if it really was a silky soft as it looked.

Clearing his throat to try and get his mind back on track Steve gave the man a charming smile that was maybe a bit more genuine than his normal customer service smile. “Hi there. How can I help you today?”

“Hey, I’m looking for a book,” the man said.

Steve couldn’t stop himself from taking the opening and gesturing to the stacks around them. “Well you’ve certainly come to the right place.”

Instead of groaning at the cheesy line that had probably been said a million times in the history of libraries and bookstores, the man gave a chuckle, his eyes sparkling in delight.

“I’m glad to hear it. I’m looking for this book to help me write my thesis for school,” the man said, holding out a piece of paper which Steve took.

The handwriting was messy in a rushed sort of way that could be elegant if the writer just spent a little more time instead of hurrying to jot everything down all at once. Either way, it was still legible and Steve, having read worse, was able to search for the book on the computer.

Fingers flew across the keyboard knowing the system like the back of his hand tended to come in very handy for Steve. “It looks like we do have that book in right now. Do you want me to give you the call number or would you like for me to show you where it is?”

The man leaned on the desk giving Steve a slow smirk. “Oh I would _love_ for you to show me where it is. Who knows the kind of things I might end up getting lost in without you to guide me?”

Normally Steve would have been fighting to not roll his eyes in front of the patron but there was something playful about the way the man came across instead of creepy. Sure he was flirting but he wasn’t being wildly inappropriate about it and Steve got the feeling that if he shut it down the man would stop and wouldn’t pursue things further. The question in that case became, did Steve want him to stop?

Coming out from around the side of the desk Steve started leading the man through the library to the shelf where the book he was looking for would be found. As they walked Steve thought about if he wanted to encourage the man’s flirting or not. It had been a while since he’d met anyone new that showed any interest in him after they knew about his work in a library. Sure he had gotten more than a few looks while outside the library given his broad shoulders and large muscles but once they found out that he was in reality a fairly quiet bookworm their interest died off almost immediately. This guy knew where he worked and could reasonably assume that Steve enjoyed reading and still flirted with him.

As they made their way through the maze of shelves Steve didn’t even have to look as he drew to a stop and easily plucked the book in question off the shelf with barely a glance and handed it over to the man. The man took it and smiled though without looking at the book in his hands.

“Thanks for your help. Are you the one I’d see about checking out the book? I’d hate for our little adventure to come to an end so soon,” he asked, looking Steve up and down making it clear the book wasn’t the only thing the man was interested in checking out.

Steve felt his face flush slightly and hoped that it wasn’t enough for the other man to notice. “Yes I can help you with that back at the desk,” he said before leading the way back to the circulation desk.

The man kept pace with Steve perfectly even taking into account the difference in their strides given that Steve’s legs were a good bit longer. Steve also made sure that he wasn’t walking too fast for the other man since that would be rude and his mother had raised him better than that. If it also gave Steve a chance to speak with the other man than that was just a coincidence. By the time they made it back to the circulation desk the man had already pulled out his library card and was handing it over. The card itself was well worn showing much use of being pulled in and out of his wallet as he checked out book after book after book. That was the kind of man that Steve could see himself potentially perusing if the guy was serious with his flirting.

“There you go ... Tony,” Steve said, glancing down at the name on the library card. “Good luck with your thesis. Please let me know if there is anything else that you need from the library to help you be successful.”

Tony smiled wide and leaned his hip against the desk. “And who is the cute librarian that I should ask for help from? I’m afraid I didn’t manage to catch your name.”

Behind him someone cleared their throat pointedly and Tony turned his head to see an older gentleman standing there, frowning and tapping his foot against the floor. Tony raised an eyebrow at the man waiting his turn very impatiently. Clearly and deliberately Tony turned his back on him to look back at Steve on the other side of the desk.

Steve was working very hard to keep his face straight and not show the amusement he felt over the situation. “My name’s Steve and it would be my pleasure to help any further needs that you have from the library.”

Tony gave Steve a wink as he pushed away from the desk and got ready to head out. “Oh I have no doubt that it will be your pleasure.”

With that Tony turned and walked away leaving Steve with the older man muttering under his breath about the younger generation too busy messing around to actually get any work done. Steve plastered on his best customer service smile and set about helping the next patron though part of his mind stayed on Tony and the fun he’d had even with just the short interaction they’d had. He didn’t know when or if he’d see Tony again but Steve couldn’t help but hope that it wouldn’t be too long.

A week later Tony came striding into the library, book under his arm, and glancing around the people standing in the open lobby area. When his eyes landed in Steve standing behind the desk his whole face lit up and he positively had a skip in his step as he queued up at the desk to wait for the hunky blonde to help him find the next book that he needed for his research. There were two people ahead of him but the cute librarian was worth the wait.

When Steve finished up with his current patron he looked up to invite the next one up to the desk and caught Tony’s eye from where he was waiting in line. Steve’s eyes widened in surprised pleasure before turning to give the next guest his full attention. Just because he was excited to see that Tony had come back didn’t mean that he could give any less than his best service to each patron. He wanted to make sure that people had a good experience with the library and continued to come back and use the services that the library strove to provide to the community.

By the time Tony reached the front of the line he was practically bouncing in place in his excitement. He was barely able to keep himself from slamming the book onto the desk in his eagerness to get to talk to Steve again but he thought the other man wouldn’t appreciate the mistreatment of a book and so Tony kept himself under control.

“Good afternoon Tony,” Steve greeted, a matching smile on his face to see the man again.

“Oh you even remembered my name,” Tony chuckled delightedly. “I hope it’s because I left a good impression behind and not because you had to walk the helpless man through the library to find a book.”

Steve shook his head and reached for the book on the counter between them. “Don’t worry, helping patrons find the books that they need is part of my job. I wouldn’t judge someone for needing that help. Are you returning this book or renewing it for another week?”

“Returning it,” Tony answered, pulling out a slip of paper from his pocket and handing that over to Steve as well. “I’ve gotten the information from it that I need but it did open up some new avenues of questions to explore. Can you check if you have this book in right now?”

Steve took the paper and immediately began searching through the computer catalogue for the book that Tony was looking for. “Yes we do have that one in right now. I can write the call number down for you if you’d like. It’s in the same section that the previous book was in so that should help.”

Tony frowned down at the paper that Steve handed back with the call number of the book written at the bottom for him to use. “Yeah, I don’t have the best sense of direction and I’d be afraid of wandering in circles and you did say that you wouldn’t judge people for needing help finding a book. Would you mind showing me the way for this one?”

Tony got a raised eyebrow at the question but Steve didn’t say anything, just called over another worker to man the desk and directed Tony back towards the rest of the library. The trip was just as much of a maze as before. With three floors plus a basement filled with rooms of books as well as a few media rooms and conference rooms, the library really was one where someone could get lost if they didn’t know where they were going.

As they walked between the bookshelves Steve couldn’t help but wonder how a man that claimed to be working on a thesis paper couldn’t manage to find a single book in a library with a call number written down for him. It would probably be rude for him to actually say that to Tony though and he had said that he didn’t judge people for needing help finding a book so that would make it even more rude to say something. Choosing instead to focus on the positives of finding new knowledge, Steve asked Tony about what he was working on.

“So what is your thesis over?”

“I’m arguing the creation of artificial intelligence is just on the horizon and will be implemented within our lifetime,” Tony said, his eyes shining as he spoke about a subject that he was obviously passionate about. “Siri and Alexa are fine jumping off points for the general public but systems like Watson that played on Jeopardy are becoming more prevalent for companies behind the scenes and they’re only getting smarter. AI is still in its infancy but it’s growing quickly and we have to grow fast along with it or we risk getting overwhelmed.”

“I suppose I never gave it much thought outside of films like The Matrix or Terminator,” Steve admitted. “Are you telling me that Skynet isn’t too far away into our future?”

Tony couldn’t hold back the startled laugh. “Hopefully not. The problem that AI can run into though is the lack of feeling and empathy. Take self driving cars for instance. Let’s say a car AI values the safety of the passengers inside its car above those around it and to avoid a crash has to swerve out of its lane of traffic. On one side of that car is a motorcyclist and on the other is a concrete barrier. A human might make the choice to hit the barrier because even though they might get hurt they probably won’t die where the motorcyclist might if they were hit by a car even though the person in the car won’t be harmed that way. We do this because we care about the safety of more than just ourselves. Would an AI do the same or would it’s inability to empathize mean it would run over the motorcyclist to prevent injury to the passengers in the car?”

“I guess I never really thought about AI that way before,” Steve said. “I’ll admit that most of that stuff goes way over my head though.”

Tony shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t worry. It’s a lot to wrap your brain around which is why the whole field is still relatively new and still finding its footing. The fact that it’s so new and there is so much to learn is what first drew me to it in the first place. I want to be on the leading edge of all there is to learn about it.”

Tony’s enthusiasm was infectious and Steve couldn’t help but feel his own heart speeding up at the thought of exploring and learning something new. While Steve couldn’t say that he was interested in going out and learning more about AI specifically he did love the process of learning things that he was interested in.

Before too long they were back at the shelf which had the book Tony was looking for. Just like last time Steve knew the shelves well enough to barely have to spare a glance before pulling down the needed book and holding it out for Tony to take. Tony however didn’t take the book right away. Instead he was too busy glaring at the shelf like it had personally offended him.

“Tony?” Steve asked, still holding out the book and wanting to know what it was that had upset the other man.

Tony shook his head rapidly for a moment before turning his attention back to Steve and taking the book in question from him. “Sorry about that. Sometimes I get lost in my own head.”

Steve felt like there was more to it but didn’t want to push. Tony hadn’t done anything wrong and didn’t owe him any explanation to the thoughts that went through his head. Instead they just walked back to the circulation desk together, continuing to chat about AIs and the possible uses that the world could have for them if they were ever fully realized.

Once Steve had the book checked out to Tony and had handed back his library card the mood seemed to fall. There was no further reason for Tony to stay and continue to talk to Steve while Steve was trying to work. Tony almost seemed reluctant to leave but knew he couldn’t hold the other man up from his job and as much as Steve wanted to urge Tony to stay, he did have work that he needed to get done.

With great reluctance Tony took his book and headed out of the library. Flirting was fun and the connection they were building during their two walks to the bookshelves and back was nice but Tony wasn’t about to cross a line. As much as he’d like to stay and talk with Steve he couldn’t interrupt the man’s work. Tony wouldn’t like that if someone was interrupting him and he wasn’t about to do the same to someone else.

A week later Steve couldn’t stop himself from planting himself firmly at the front desk all day long and glancing up every time the front doors opened. He couldn’t fool himself into thinking he was doing this for any reason other than looking for Tony to come in return the book that he had borrowed. If Steve was pressed he’d have to admit to abusing his privileges as a librarian to look at Tony’s account to see that he hadn’t turned in the book or renewed it earlier in the week and that it was still outstanding and due back today.

That of course didn’t eliminate the fact that Tony might lose track of time and forget to turn in the book thus making it overdue and meaning Steve wouldn’t get to see him today. What had started off as some light flirting had grown into a desire to see more of Tony and to get to know him better. As the day went on and the library got busier with students coming in to cram for midterms and toddlers coming for story time, Steve wasn’t able to watch the door as diligently as he had been doing earlier in the day.

At one point he thought he had seen Tony hurrying by out of the corner of his eye but when he had turned around to take a closer look he didn’t see the other man anywhere in the lobby. Shaking his head Steve tried to get himself to focus. Yes he wanted the chance to see Tony again but he also had his own work that he needed to get done and he couldn’t spend all day pining after a man that may or may not show up, no matter how much he may want to.

Half an hour later Steve’s day was made significantly better when Tony did appear at the desk holding out his book for Steve to check back in. Steve found himself at the front of the circulation desk so fast when he saw Tony that he wasn’t completely certain he hadn’t teleported across the distance.

“Hey there stranger. Miss me?” Tony asked cheerfully.

“Like you couldn’t imagine,” Steve replied honestly as he took the book and started returning it into the system. “How goes the research?”

“It’s going. I’ve got some good headway going but there is still so much more in the field to learn,” Tony said, yearning for that future knowledge clear in his voice.

Steve couldn’t help but wish that more people fell that in love with learning as Tony clearly was. He also wished that he could see Tony looking this excited and passionate every day of his life.

“Well if there is more to learn then I’m sure you’ve already found the next book that you need for your research,” Steve suggested.

“You got me there,” Tony agreed as he held out a new piece of paper with the title of the next book that he needed.

Steve couldn’t stop the big smile taking over his face as he looked up the book in the library system and wrote down the call number. Handing the paper back, Steve gave a smirk.

“This one is in a slightly different section of the library than the other two were. I assume that you need help finding this one as well?” he asked even as he waved over some extra help to the desk.

“Don’t you know it,” Tony teased back. “However would I find my way around here without you to lead the way. I might get lost and then you’d feel bad when they eventually find my body, withered away in the furthest reaches of the library when you go to reshelve your books.”

Steve shook his head as he laughed at Tony’s antics. “I should draw you a map. Maybe that would at least help you find an exit. I would hate to come across your mummified body while reshelving just because you got lost trying to find a book.”

Once his coworker had come over to take his place, Steve once more walked out from behind the counter and led Tony through the stacks of books. It had become a familiar routine for the two of them and Steve found himself walking closer to Tony’s side than was strictly necessary but the other man didn’t seem to mind. If anything he was subtly leaning in closer into Steve’s space in return.

Tony chuckled in response to Steve’s unsubtle invasion of his space and nudged his shoulder against Steve’s. When they got the correct shelf Steve raised his hand and went to grab the book off the shelf, barely looking as he did so because he always felt that made it look far more impressive. The only problem with that was that the book in question wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Instead the books all seemed to be spaced out to cover the gap that the missing book left as though trying to hide the fact that their brethren was missing.

Steve used a finger to scroll over the books on the shelf to check and see if someone had perhaps looked at the book earlier and just put it back in the wrong place. When that didn’t turn up anything Steve turned his attention to the shelves above and below the one that the book was supposed to be on. The computer had definitely said that the book was in the library and while it was possible that another patron was currently reading it somewhere, given the obscure nature of the contents Steve did think that it was unlikely which meant that it should be here.

“Something wrong?” Tony asked. “Is your magic trick of pulling a book off the shelf without looking not working? Are you a mere mortal like the rest of us who has trouble finding a single book among all the thousands around instead of being some omniscient library God that can find a single page of the most random book with your eyes closed?”

Steve’s lips quirked up in amusement though his brow was still furrowed in concentration. “The book should be right here,” Steve said pointing to the spot in question between two other books. “It should be right here but it’s not and I don’t know why.”

The clear look of frustration on Steve’s face had Tony’s smile vanishing and he stepped closer to put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “It’s all right. I don’t need that particular book right now. I can make progress on my thesis from the notes I’ve taken from the others and I’m sure there are other books that I can check out that will help with my research.”

Steve just shook his head. While everything that Tony said was probably true, that didn’t make the missing book any less frustrating to him. Steve took pride in how well he kept the library. Everything was neatly organized. Books made it back out onto the shelves within an hour after being turned back in so that other patrons could find and borrow them. He and his coworkers made regular trips around the library looking for books that had been left out so that they could reshelve them so things like this didn’t happen. The fact that it had and Steve didn’t know why bothered him. The fact that he also felt like he was failing Tony to an extent didn’t help matters.

True he hadn’t known Tony for very long but he had really become invested in the other man. He was funny and he was sweet and Steve didn’t like that the one thing he brought to their interactions was so clearly missing at this moment.

“Hey, it’s fine. Really,” Tony said, doing his best to reassure Steve. He took Steve by the elbow and tried to pull him away from the shelf that was missing the book that they had come looking for. “How about you tell me about similar books and material that I could borrow for this week and maybe this one will reappear later when we least expect it.”

Steve frowned, not wanting to let it go that easily but Tony had a point. Staring at the same shelf wasn’t going to make the book magically appear so they might as well try and find something else that could help Tony research for his thesis so he wouldn’t fall behind due to this setback.

Steve used the computer to find a few reference books similar to what Tony had already borrowed and those ones were on the shelf where they belonged. Later the day when Steve was taking his turn with the cart to go around the library to reshelve books, he found his feet taking him to the same section that he had taken Tony to earlier, unable to let go of the mystery of the vanished book. He still hadn’t managed to find the book that they had been looking for even though he had kept his eyes open for it.

While he hadn’t managed to find the book, he did come across Tony in the middle of the row putting a book back onto the shelf. Steve only got a quick glance at the cover before the book disappeared between its neighbors but there was no doubt in his mind that it was the one that they had been searching for.

“What’s going on here Tony?” Steve asked a bit louder than he had originally planned on if the way that Tony jumped around, clutching at his chest was anything to judge by.

“Shit Steve. Warn a guy before you sneak up on him,” Tony chastised.

Steve frowned but did tip his head in acknowledgement. While he did want answers, he truly hadn’t meant to frighten that other man.

“What are you doing here Tony,” he pushed. “Is that the book we were looking for before? Where did you find it and why are you putting it back on the shelf? I’d be happy to check it out for you.”

Tony’s face flushed at Steve’s words.

“Um, well, you see … The thing is the book wasn’t really lost earlier today,” Tony admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “I might have hidden it before I came to the desk to ask for your help. I swear I wasn’t trying to mess with you though. I just thought that if you couldn’t find the book right away then you’d have to spend more time searching for it which would mean that we’d have some more time to spend together. I hadn’t known that you would get so worked up over not being able to find it. I am sorry about that.”

“ _You_ hid the book? That would mean that you were able to find it all on your own without help,” Steve said as information started to fall into place in front of him.

Tony nodded his agreement to show that he was listening and acknowledging what Steve had to say.

“You mean to tell me that you haven’t actually needed my help finding books this whole time? Steve asked incredulously, fixating on that one fact.

Tony’s eyebrows rose in a disbelieving look. “I’m currently working on my Masters degree and you really thought I could find a book in a library by myself? You have an online catalog that I can look books up in without having to go to the desk and besides, it’s the Dewey Decimal System Steve. It’s not exactly rocket science to figure out. Of course I didn’t need help finding books. I just wanted to spend some time with you and I knew you take your job seriously so you wouldn’t have just let me hang out at the desk with you so I got creative.”

So many things were falling into place for Steve right then and he couldn’t help but laugh at the picture that they made. Tony had flirted with him from the very beginning and Steve had enjoyed their conversations each time they had set out to find a new book that Tony had needed. The fact that Tony had picked up on the fact that Steve didn’t want to be distracted while at work and had even made sure that each book they went to retrieve was one that he actually wanted spoke volumes about how much he had paid attention to the blonde.

All together Steve was very impressed, even more so by now knowing that the man he had started to develop feelings for wasn’t actually so brainless as to not be able to figure out the Dewey Decimal System. Reaching out, he plucked the book from off the shelf where Tony had put it back after hiding it. Taking a piece of paper from his pocket he quickly scribbled down his phone number and tucked it into the book like a bookmark and shoved it into Tony’s hands.

“In that case I think you owe me a drink for making me search for books that you could have found on your own and wasting time that we could have been better using to plan out a date,” Steve said with a triumphant smile.

Tony’s face went from nervous and concerned at the beginning of what Steve was saying to overjoyed by the end of it. A wide grin spread across his face at the librarian’s pronouncement.

“I think that can be arranged,” Tony agreed.

Tony helped Steve put away the rest of the books on his cart while they planned out what they would do for their first date. It would be a nice chance to get to know one another outside of the library and without having to hide books to spend time together. However that would make for a good story years down the road at their wedding about how they got together.


End file.
